Oeko-Bureau (http://www.oeko-bureau.eu), Resource and Analysis Center "Society and Environment" (http://www.rac.org.ua/index.php?id=1&L=1) and European ECO Forum (http://www.eco-forum.org/) have published the second edition of the Case Law of the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee. It attempts to summarize the practice of the Compliance Committee of the Aarhus Convention. Since its founding in 2002 by the First Meeting of the Parties of the Aarhus Convention, the Committee has dealt with numerous issues related to practical implementation of the Convention by the parties.

The Report is prepared by the Aarhus Convention Compliance Committee and It covers the intersessional period between the third and fourth sessions of the Meeting of the Parties. It contains evaluation of the progress achieved by individual Parties with regard to Committee recommendations, new submissions concerning non-compliance with the Convention, and general compliance issues.
The Report is available here:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/2945370/Report_of_the_Compliance_Committee_2011.pdf

The European Commission is taking the UK to the EU Court of Justice over the high cost of challenges of decisions on the environment. Under EU law, the possibility of challenging decisions affecting the environment should be fair, equitable, timely and not prohibitively expensive. The Commission is concerned that the potentially high cost of losing legal actions is preventing NGOs and individuals in the UK from bringing cases in the first place.

The Regulation 1367/2006 applies to EU institutions and bodies.

The EC is a Party to the Convention since May 2005.

To complete the Aarhus package the European Commission also prepared a proposal for a Directive on Access to Justice in environmental matters [COM (2003) 624]. Due to the resistance from several Member States this proposal still has not been adopted.

In order to comply with the Aarhus Convention the EU had to revise its legislation.

The Directive provides for public participation in certain plans and programmes

Article 9 of the Aarhus convention, which allows the public to challenge national and local authorities over environmental decisions, is applied very differently across the EU, according to a report published by NGO Justice and Environment (J&E).